Question about buying a motorcycle in Tokyo while visiting for 3 months.

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Question about buying a motorcycle in Tokyo while visiting for 3 months.

Hi Gaijinriders people! I'm currently in Tokyo for 3 months, a little over 2 weeks have passed so far. I brought an international driver's license with me but did not really have any intention of buying a motorcycle. The thing is, renting is quite expensive, I'd like to be able to hang onto a bike for more than just a few days.

I went to a dealer and they told me that I have to register a bike on someone that has a residence card, this I can understand. He also told me that if I bought a brand new bike and sold it after 2 months, I could expect to lose half it's value in that time. What gives? In my home country of Norway I owned a 2017 Honda VFR800F for close to a year and sold it at below 15% value loss of it's new price from a dealer. It had around 4000 kilometers put on it in that time.

I was thinking of purchasing a brand new Suzuki SV650, They can be had for a little over •600,000. So if I buy a new one and ride it for 2 months, not really putting THAT many kilometers on it. Does it stand to reason that if I sell the bike in very good condition back to the dealer again, I will be left with only •300,000? I find that difficult to believe.
Moving forward... I don't really have any close friends or relationships with anyone here, I just decided to go to Tokyo for 3 months to enjoy life a little bit. Where I live I am able to rent a parking space for the motorcycle at a pretty decent price, so I have that covered.

Is there anyone with some knowledge to this that could help me out with some information? Is what I'm trying to do pretty much impossible? I guess it's difficult to find a person I can trust to register a bike on while I am here. I would also need to pre-arrange an agreement for someone to take the bike off my hands at an acceptable price loss once my time here in Tokyo is up.
Any tips or feedback is appreciated. I am not at all nervous about riding on the other side of the road as opposed to what I am used to in my own country. I am also a pretty safe and competent motorcycle rider.

I know there are more costs than just buying the motorcycle, I have read about them and I am willing to pay the price, this is no problem.

Thanks so much for reading my post and giving me some useful answers to what I am wondering about.

Question about buying a motorcycle in Tokyo while visiting for 3 months.

Ok first if you buy it new and then sell it back to that dealer or any dealer than yeah 50% would be best thatís a norm. BUT if you sell it privately you will be getting a much better price.
Talk with the guys at Apex moto ( they are here on the site) they might be able to help out

Getting to the Summit is Optional, Returning home is mandatoryLife begins at 155mph

I guess it's difficult to find a person I can trust to register a bike on while I am here. I would also need to pre-arrange an agreement for someone to take the bike off my hands at an acceptable price loss once my time here in Tokyo is up.

Look at it from the other person's viewpoint. You're asking for a total stranger who lives here and has to stay after you're gone to trust YOU with a motorcycle registered in THEIR name. You're also asking someone to sell you a motorcycle and then guarantee you they will buy it back from you at a higher price than they would buy it from anybody else. You're the one asking everybody else to take risks on you and lose money so you don't have to.

Ok first if you buy it new and then sell it back to that dealer or any dealer than yeah 50% would be best that’s a norm. BUT if you sell it privately you will be getting a much better price.
Talk with the guys at Apex moto ( they are here on the site) they might be able to help out

Thanks for your reply racer162! I will look into this, I appreciate it.

Look at it from the other person's viewpoint. You're asking for a total stranger who lives here and has to stay after you're gone to trust YOU with a motorcycle registered in THEIR name. You're also asking someone to sell you a motorcycle and then guarantee you they will buy it back from you at a higher price than they would buy it from anybody else. You're the one asking everybody else to take risks on you and lose money so you don't have to.

Good luck finding anybody idiot enough to do that.

Certainly, I agree with your statement. At the same time, if I register a motorcycle on another person, they can possibly scam me and run off with the value of the motorcycle. I'm just trying to figure out if there is a way I can be able to hold onto a motorcycle for a couple of months. This isn't an easy situation regardless of what viewpoint one has, I might just have to drop it. There's no harm just looking into it though. Thanks either way.

... if I register a motorcycle on another person, they can possibly scam me and run off with the value of the motorcycle.

Assuming you paid cash at time of purchase that's unlikely. However, consider the following:

- your proxy can conveniently forget the buy-back part, leaving you with the full cost of the bike (and the bike) at the end of your stay. Inconvenient at best, expensive at worst.

- as they (not you) are the legal owner of a bike they paid nothing for, they could just stall things until your visa runs out.

- you could get some parking tickets, which get mailed to the registered owner.

- the registered owner could report the bike stolen, leaving you in some trouble if anyone runs the plate. ("some trouble" means immediate arrest, jail time, lawyers, deportation...)

- you could be involved in a hit-and-run accident, do a gas-and-dash, rob a convenience store etc. etc. The police will be knocking on the registered owner's door pretty soon. If it's registered to XYZ Bike Rentals it will be a short visit for a copy of the rental contract. Anyone else will be going downtown for a while.

There's just so many ways your plan could go wrong for everyone involved. You *might* get somewhere buying one from someone leaving the country permanently, assuming they are dumb enough to not de-register it before leaving.

You said "go to Tokyo for 3 months". Tokyo's public transportation system is excellent, parking is problematic, and the roads are a jungle. Use the train most of the time, rent a bike at any of the various providers for the occasional weekend trip.

I believe it IS possible to register the bike in your own name regardless of whether you are a resident, and that they can help you with this. For selling the bike, I believe they can arrange something as well. Don't take it from me though, contact them here:http://www.apexmoto.jp/our-team/

Question about buying a motorcycle in Tokyo while visiting for 3 months.

I just want to add. It is possible you would need to go to your embassy and get a paper that will allow you to register it.
Again talk to Jon at Apex he helped someone else in this regard recently. So if nothing else they will point you in the right direction.

Getting to the Summit is Optional, Returning home is mandatoryLife begins at 155mph